Evening Star Newspaper, September 16, 1925, Page 2

* THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. DRUG PLANT SALE /EXPENSE OF OPERATING AUTOS FALE, SHYS BAER Junes Case Witness Tells of Affidavits Used in f.iquor Withdrawal. star eptember 16.— » show the sale | r and Chemical HL. Cavo of Washington by T. and Winfield Jc and the | uent resafe by Caro to Jesse | harles Baker we ing when tt rers, Caro, Kellne Special Dispatch to Th TORE, Md., wportin ryland D trial Tsadr charged with il 1¢ohol. was resumed of the Simon legal diver in Tnite The affidav the filed with the r of inte enue and h 1 authorities its the with- | ohal in the manufactt icles and ¥ inals Al rev- ori Jesse B ddress was given as 612 H rthwest, Washington, identified the affidavits and said they were false. He said he ed them, knowing they were false Tells of Meeting in D. . Baker told of down" the ington n r tonics, in attempt Joneses throug a ake | Wash He to . and toid him h the agent uld be said. He de- new nothing of this, 1id $500 was given * ard” to olan, but Nolan received nothing Packard” has not been seen to an tember 1924, M ington was repres. manager, sales director and sole owner of the drug company. On September other affidavit showing the business to Jesse and cer for $%.000 by Caro was money was paid and s fictitious, the witness 1 he and his brother con- owners and officers until affidavit filed Sep- H. Caro of Wash- ed as the active shown, the stock w 11, 1925, when X r hir in Washington! he said, that the Department Justice officials were on his track and he was told he had better leave Baltimore. He went to Boston and remained there yntil the drug plant was raided last March and he was summoned before grand jury Milton shippin N. Bakel . T. Jones the Summers clerk of the f 512 H street of Baltimore, . and Jesse Washing- ton, m were the principal Govern witnesses vesterday. Summers had been granted immunity by the district at - and Baker, with his brother, C| Baker, and Willlam Cohen. pleaded guilty. Summers testified that part of his work was to scrape off the serial numbers on alcohol barrels sold to bottleggers so that the company could not he implicated if the bar- rels were seized. lis testimony was submitted apparently to connect Win field and Neufeld T. Jones, Wash- ington, brothers, with the operation of the Maryland Drug and Chemical Co., which was raided by prohibition agents on March 6 last. Summers said he was first hired by Cohen at $25 a_week, and later at $50 a week by the Joneses, who came over rom Washington and summoned him - hotel, where he was told they were taking over the business and told him to make the business ‘bullet- proof,” he stated. According to Sum- mers, Neufeld Jones would come to Baltimore from Washington frequent- | ly. and on these occ demanded money from Cohen, who was running | the business. | Offered Better Joh. Baker testified that he was working for the Caro Flavering Co., at 610 Pennsylvania avenue, when he was in- troduced to Cohen, who promised him | a better job if he would come to Balti- more. Shortly afterward, he satd, he and Cohen and the two Joneses came to Baltimore and he was taken to the plant at 24 South Charles street and told his salary would be $30 a week as manager. He sald he believed the firm | was going to make toilet and hair tonic preparations, and did not know i vas wrong until several s 1z en he went to the vault where the barrels of alcchol were kept and found it almost empty. When he spoke to Cohen about it, id, Cohen told him it was all and that the aleohol had been Later he testified he was told to that the serial numbers were scraped from the barrels as soon as received from the Government ware Since the raid he said he had baen for Mrs. Dor one tion in W . Thissell, assistant man- ager of the Washington Hotel, was called and produced the register sheets of the hotel from July 19, 1924, to April 22, 1925, showing that N. T. Jones had been a guest at the hotel for different periods during that time and told of the long-distance calls made by Jones to the company's office here and to Atlanta, Philadel- phia, Atlanti y ¥ and Brooklyn . according to the phone record, called the Mary- land Drug Co. or Cohen's residence in iltimore almost every day while stopping at the hotel. Willlam C. Dockhorn, cashier of the Western Unfon Telegraph Co., pro- duced records of the company showing where over $2,000 had been sent by telegraph to the 0 company in | ‘Washington by Cohen, and 0 h.’lfl] been sent to Summers from Washing- ton by “Jack Levy,” which District Attorney Woodcock said was the alias of Isadore Glasser. Louise §. Gottileb, who described himself as Washington business man, told the jury he was brought to Bal- timore. by the Jones brothers, who tried to interest him in the concern, but he refused to participate in any business dealings with them. The register of the Southern Hotel of Baltimore was produced and Dis- trict orn Woodcock — showed where N. T. Jones had registered un- der the name of “Jasper Small” on February 11 this year, and under the name of “Andrew Quick” on March 12. Mr. Woodcock declared it was shown that N. T. Jones was the party occupying both rooms by the records of the telephone clerk which showed calls for the office of the Maryland Drug Co., and for Cohen and on both of them the name “Jones” was first glven and later erased for “Small” and “Quick. Robert Carman, one of the defense attorneys, announced that Secretary of the Treasury Mellon, Internal Reve- nue Commissioner Blair and Prohibi- tion Commissioner Haynes had agreed to testify if needed. He would not call them, he said, if his other witnesses proved sufficient. Envoy and Wife Are Honored. Mendez Pereira, minister of public fnstruction of Panama, and Mrs, Pereira were guests today at an in- formal luncheon at the Pan-American Union, tendered them by Dr. L. S. Rowe. director general of the union. Among other guests were Minister Alfaro of Panama and Mrs, Alfaro and H, Euseblo A. Morales, Panaman finance minister, here on a special infssion. 7. e . 3 introduced | | DOUBLE CAR FARE, PROBE SHOWS Average Motorist Pays Nearly 12 Cents Per Mile. 1,600 Automobiles Carry Workers in Capital. 2 Out of 10 Walk. COST OF OWNING AND OPERATING AN AUTOMOBILE. (6,000 miles per year) Item. Gasoline (20c per gallon, including tax, 15 miles per Oil (25¢ per quart, 200 miles per qUart)...........-..... 7 Tires (two) .... Maintenance (repad; Garage Insurance (complete coverage) . Personal property tax (1 Licenses (vehicle, $1: driver, §1) Depreciation (25% on $800 averac Interest (6% on $400 average rema Total . *Notice, the cost per mile is f __(Continued from First Page.) Railway and Electric Co., aggregat- ing approximately 32 per cent of the grand total, while those utilizing the facilities of the Capital Traction Co. uggregate approximately 18 per cent | of the total. More Ride at Night. While the distribution between the ario transportation facilities is substantially the same in coming to work in the morning as from work at night, it is noticeable that more people use the public transportation agencies in returning home night than use these facil ities in coming to work in the morn ing.” Another interesting revelation in the report is that the steam railroads entering Washington sell commuta- tion tickets equivalent to 1,069,842 passenger rides a vear. The engi- neers had no way of determining how many of these tickets are used, but the number sold indicates a heavy volume of railroad commutation be- tween Washington and the suburbs of Maryland and Virginia. In studying the p of pas- sengers transferring from one car line to another, the engineers found that the busiest transfer points were: For the Washington Railway and Electric Co., Ninth and F streets, with 10 transfers in a day or the Capital Traction Co., Four- teenth and U streets, with 17,079 in a day For pay transfers issued between companies, Eighteenth and Columbia roud, with 3,080 a day. Parking Space for 7,000 Cars. Not only did the engineers study the relative costs of various means of transportation in this report, but they made detsiled and highly enlightening studles of certain vehicular traffic problems which should prove of great assistance to the local authorities in handling the traffic situation. They made an actual measurement of all the street space in the down- town congested area and found that after allowing for fire hydrants and other places where cars are not per- mitted to stand, there is space down- town for the parking of exactly 7,001 automobiles. On the afternoon ©of May 18 they,actually counted 5,014 machines parked within the congested area. They made counts of parked machines at other times, but the occasion cited represented the maximum. The engineers made another count at 2 o'clock one morning and found that 18,458, or 22 per cent of all the automobiles in Washington, are left on the streets all night instead of in_garages. The engineers estimated that the cost, per revenue passenger of ren- dering street car and bus service is: Capital Traction Co., 7.29 cents; Washington Railway and Electric Co., 810 cents, and Washington Rapid Transit Co. 9.32 cents. Service Costs Compared. In arrlving at this cost of service per passenger the engineers figured all operating expenses, depreclation, taxes and a return of 7'z per cent on the valuation of the property of each company. This was merely an assumed rate of return on valuation for the railway companies, however, since records of the Public Utllities Commission indicate the Capital Traction Co. is actually earning about 63% per cent and the Washing- ton Railway and Electric Co. 4 per cent. Here is the cost of service for each company, as set up in the report: Capital Traction Cos—Operating ex- penses, including depreciation, $3,084,- 579; taxes, $392,423; return of 7% per cent per year, §1,271,516; total, $4,748.- 518. Revenue passengers carried, 65,150,699, making the cost per rev- enue passenger, 7.2 cents. Washington Railway and Electric Co—Operating expenses, including de- preciation, $4,363,695; taxes, $374,065; return of 71 per cent a_vear, $1,562, 519; total, $6,300,279. Revenue pas- sengers carried, 6,675, making the cost per revenue passenger 8.10 cents. Washington Rapid Transit Co— Operating_expenses, including depre- clation, $207,557; return of 7% per cent, $30,000; total, $237,557. Revenue passengers carried, 2,549,178, making Ccost per revenue passenger, 9.32 cents. Valuations Contested. These computations for the railway companies were based on the valua- tions of the commission brought up to June, 1924, as follows: Capital, Traction Co., $16,953,545; Washington Raflway and Electric Co., $20,833,592. The englneers point out, however, that both railway corapanies took their valuations to court, and they give some indication in the report of how the cost of service per passenger would be increased if the companies finally sustain their valuations in rt. 'In the case of the Capital Traction Co., for example, the District Supreme Court rendered a decision several months ago, on the basis of which that company’s valuation would be ad- justed to $31,280,177, as of June 30, 1924. Using this court order as a basis for computing return the total cost of service per passenger for that com- pany becomes 8.94 cents instead of 7.29 cents, the engineers say. The appraisal of the Washington Railway and Electric property has been appealed to the courts on grounds in many respects similar to the Capltal Traction valuation case, but has not yet been decided by the District Supreme Court. May Increase Cost. “Should this appeal result in an in- creased valuation allowance for the Washington Railway and Electric Co.,” the engineers state, “the effect will be to increase the tatal cost of service per passenger in the same way as in- creased value is reflected above in an nting, washing, etc.). % on $400 average value) o cost) .. returning | nearby | *Per mile. 1.33 12 83 al) $80.00 7.50 50.00 | . 100.00 1.67 . 120.00 2.00 . 100.00 1.67 6.80 =) . 2.00 03 . 200.00 3.33 24.00, 40 ining value) . ....$690.30 gured in cents, not dollars. increased cost per passenger for the Capital Traction Co.” After showing what the cost of serv- fce per passenger would be if the companies were earning 7% per cent on their valuations, the engineers pre- sented another table showing the ayv. erage revenue per passenger actually received by the companies during 1 on the present rate of fare. The table follows: Capital Traction Co. during 1924 col- lected 17,872,419 cash fares and 47, 278,280 token far produced assenger revenue 151, or 5 cents per revenue passenger. The estimated cost of service per passen |ger on a 7% per cent rate of return "\\ s 7.29 cents. Washington Railway and | Co. during 1924 collected 17,260,135 {eash fares and 60,526,540 tokens. | This produced passenger revenue of | 685, or 6.94 cents per revenue passenger. The estimated cost of serv- ice allowing for a 7}2 per cent rate of return was 8.10 cents. Washington Rapid Transit Co. dur- ing 1924 collected 1,116,221 cash fares and 1,432,057 tokens, producing rey- enue of $§235.048 or 9.38 cents per revenue p The estimated cost of serv return was 9.32 cents. Traffic Tried Out. ‘Turning from the question of cost of transportation, the engineers conclude their final chapter with a mass of data concerning vehicular traffic and how it moves over the streets. In order to measure the adequacy of the street plan of the city the en- gineers made a score of autotmobile trips from various central points to various outlying sections of the city. They kept a record of exactly how long it took to make each trip, the number of delays encountered and the causes of those delays. The maximum speed limit in the District is 22 miles an hour, but on most of these test trips the average speed for the trip was less than 20 miles per hour. The best time made as on Sixteenth street from Scott Circle to Alaska avenue, where the machine was able to average 21 miles per hour. Traveling from Dupont Circle to Thirteenth and E streets by way of Massachusetts avenue, the automobile making the test was able to average only 13 miles per hour. From Ninth street and New York avenue to Elev- enth street and Pennsylvania avenue, by way of New York avenue and Eleventh street, the average speed was only 10.5 miles per hour. Hindrances to Traffic. The engineers cited many similar trips to show the rate at which traffic is able to flow going in various direc- tions. In listing the causes of delay on these trial auto trips the engineers emphasize angle parking opposite loading platforms and automobiles parked abreast of other machines. The engineers recall a fact which they made public several months ago, namely, that Sixteenth street shows higher peak traffic loads than Fifth avenue, New York, although traffic on the average is lighter on Sixteenth street. The report contains the following summary of a count made of vehicles entering and leaving the District of Columbia: “A total of 69,742 vehicles were counted in the course of this check, of which 28,755 were inbound and 30, 987 outbound. Thirty-nine thousand and forty-two were observed at points on the Maryland boundary and 20,700 at points on the Virginia boundary. Of the W\icles observed at the Mary- land line 21,384 bore District license plates and 15,176 Maryland license plates. Of those observed at the Vir- ginia line 10,630 bore District license plates and 8228 Virginla license plates.” Rush Traffic Checked. ‘The engineers also took five of the busiest intersections downtown and counted th® number of vehicles go- ing in each direction during a rush hour. The results of these checks are incorporated in the report and should prove helpful to the traffic officials in regulating trafic at those points. The corners were Four- teenth street and New York Avenue, Fifteenth _street and Pennsylvania avenue, Eleventh and G streets, Ninth street and Pennsylvania ave- nue and Fourteenth and G streets. In studying the riding habits of the people of Washington the engineers made special counts of the number of persons visiting the base ball park, theaters, railroad stations and vari. ous amusement parks and the con- vevances used in getting to such places. This study shows there are always more base ball fans going to the ball park in autos than on street cars. Likewise, the counts revealed that more amusement seekers go to Glen Echo and Arlington Beach in automo- biles than on Street cars. Another Important, job undertaken by the engineers was to have ob. servers ride from one end of the route to the other on all the street car and bus lines to ascertain the distribu- tion of the daily business of each line. They made these rides at various times of the day and counted the num- ber of persons boarding and leaving at_each stop. In order to measure the frequency and adequacy of service checkers were stationed on the street along each car and bus line and made a record of the time and load of each car and bus passing. All of these voluminous records will be available in determining how the transportation service of the city may*be improved. .. Dr. C. W. Eliot Reported Il CAMBRIDGE, Mass., September 168 (#).—Dr. Charlgs W. Eliot, president emeritus of Harvard University, is suffering from a slight aflment, but members of his family announced that he was improving. They added that no serious effects were expected. Electric HATIOHAL PUBYE ‘DR. WLADYSLAW WROBLEWSKI. POLISH MINISTER RESIGNSU.S.POST Dr. Wroblewski to Return to Warsaw—Record Here Is Praised. law Wroblewski, Polish Mirister to the United States since De- cember 7, 1922, has resigned to accept other important service for his gov- ernment at Warsaw. His successor to Washington has been appointed, but will not be announced formally until the Washington Government has had time to pass on the acceptability of the appointee. There is no doubt of the appointee’s acceptability. Dr. Wroblewski made an_ espectally fine record in diplomacy during his stay in this city. Notable among his achievements was the arrangement for the settlement of Poland's debt to the United States, securing the recognition by the United States of the eastern boundaries of Poland and the flotation of a bond issue of $35,000.000 in the fted States through private bank- ers. Having finished these important matters, he went to Poland with Mme. Wroblewska last June for a vacation and while there mada plans which precluded his return to the United States. Since his departure from this city Mr. Hipolft Gliwic, counselor, has been in charge of the affairs of the local Polish legation. FRANCE MUST PAY ON TERMS DECIDED HERE, SMOOT SAYS (Continued from First Page.) it was declared in authoritative quarters that Premier Painleve and his cabinet were determined to stand or fall upon the result of the Wash- ington negotiations. They were quite conscious of that hazard, it was stated, when they voted yesterday to give M. Caillaux full powers to negotiate. The present French government may be said to be erected upon a tripod—Painleve, Briand and Cafl- laux—and if one leg gives way the structure will collapse. VETERANS SHOW WRATH. Paris War Heroes Return U. S. Honor Medal to Borah. By Cable to The Star and Chicago Daily News. PARIS, September 16.—Finance Minister Caillaux needs all the good wishes which were showered on him and his delegation, which left today for Washington to discuss an event- ual settlement of the war debt ques- tion. It will not be only America that he will have to convince what France can and cannot do. Once the problems are settled there, he will have another bitter struggle with his own people, to induce them to ac- cept the arrangements eventually to be reached at Washington. Quite a few people in France under- stand that the welfare of their coun- try depends much on the settlement of war debts, but the majority still believes that the World War was a holy war, consequently the money question should not be considered. The quiet manifestation made by French war veterans last night at the American embassy is typical of the frame of mind of 90 per cent of Frenchmen. Capt. Plerre Hericourt, one of the ‘war veterans and leading the delegation of 10 war-maimed soldlers, returned to First Secretary Hallett Johnson of the Amerfcan em- bassy a distinguished service medal conferred upon a French soldier by the American Government for saving the life of an American officer at the front, with the remark: “Hand thts to Senator Borah. We do not need it any longer because we owe him so many - dollars. Returned with the medal was a wooden leg of a man who lost his own leg saving an Amer- ican officer, and a steel helmet, which were ‘“to remind Senator Borah of the million and a half French soldiers who were killed during the war.” - Secretary Johnson, somewhat puz- zled, accepted the objects and prom- ised to transmit ‘them .to the State Department together with a long let- ter protesting against ‘‘preposterous demands of America to recover a war debt from poor, bleeding France. It is with such sentiment solidly represented in Parliament that Fi- nance Minister Calllaux will have to cope when he returns to France if perchance he succeeds in making ar- rangements with the Washington debt funding commission. (Copyright. 1925, by Chicago Daily News Co.) ITALY MAY SEEK LOAN. Finance Minister Confers With Amer- ican Bank Head. ROME, September 16 ().—Count Volpi, finance minister, had a long conference yesterday with Charles E. Mitchell, president of the National City Bank of New York. Both were most reserved as to the detalls of the con- terence, but financial circles are of the This chart gives the results of the cards filled out by Government employes and other workers in the downtown section. to travel in getting to work and the average time. Summary by Distance and Facility—Business Survey. 1-2 miles. Facility. 0—Automobils —Walk . 1 Aot vy R R T . Persons. Min. 9 2-3 miles. ver. ime, ‘Persons. Min. Persons. 3-4 miles. . Aver. ime, Min. Aver. Time, 4-5miles. 5-6 miles. Over 6 miles. Aver. ‘Persons. Min. Persons. Mix- Persons It shows the number of persons. using each kind of transportation, the distance they have Total. e e Min. Persons. Min. 5.1 ver. ver. FALL CAUSES DEATH OF 5.L. CROMMWELL Former Head of New York Stock Exchange Was Thrown From Horse. By the Associated Pre: NEW YORK, September 16.—Sey- mour L. Cromwell, former president of the New York Stock Exchange and widely known banker and broker, died today at his home at Bernardsville, N. I, of injuries suffered when he fell from a horse more than a week ago. Death was due to concussion of the brain. Mr. Cromwell retired from the presi- dency of the Stock Exchange in May of last year. He had held the presi- dency for three years, As a member of the firm of Carlisle, Mellick & Co., he continued actively in the brokerage business. Fought Lockwood Body. Mr. Cromwell was a leader three years ago of the opposition to the enactment of legislation to compel the New York Stock Exchange to be Incorporated When the Lockwood joint legislative committee on housing, in its final re- port to the State Senate in 1923, sug- gested regulation of the Stock Ex- change by legislation, Mr. Cromwell strongly ~opposed the suggestion, maintaining that the committee was concerned only with housing condi- tions During the agit to control the exchange he ass that the exchange “never has been in politics and never wilL” Following his charge later that three public officials had threatened legislation adverse to the change unless they were pald money, District Attorney Banton started a grand jury investigation. Mr. Cromwell appeared before the grand jury and gave the names of these threo persons, two of whom were sald to be State legislators. The grand Jury failed to return an indictment and the names of the men accused never were made public. Just before his retirement last year Mr. Cromwell, in a speech before the Association of Stock Exchange Firm declared the exchange had meted out to dishonest members “punishment far swifter than could have been meted out in any court of justice.” Later, in an address before 200 members of the Associated Press, who were guests of the stock exchange, he defended short selling of stocks, claiming it to be “proper ethically, legally and eco- nomieally."* Mr. Cromwell’s last address before the stock exchange members was made in July of last year. Mr. Cromwell was honored with election to the presidency of the stock exchange for three terms. ST on for legislation POLICE MAY HALT CARS AT CROSSINGS OF 7 BOULEVARDS (Continued from First street cars stop and thereby give the right-of-way to vehicles at boule- vard intersections. Director Eldridge told the commis- slon that he wanted street cars to stop the same as vehicular trafc before crossing a. boulevard primarily in the interests of safety and not merely because there might be more traffic on the boulevard. Mr. Eldridge said that he agreed with Mr. Hanna that it would be bet- ter to regulate all traffic by automati signals at these busy points. where boulevards cross street car tracks, and that the step signs were only a tempo- rary measure at such points until funds are available to install auto- matic lights within a few years. Charles W. Darr, speaking for the Chamber of Commerce, contended that if the stop signs are retained at the points in question street cars should stop like all other vehicles, but he said the chamber believed they should not be made boulevard intersections unless the Police Department is able to put traffic officers there. To Protect Pedestrians. W. Pearce Rayner presented a state- ment for the special committee on trafic of the Board of Trade, stating that in the interest of protection of pedestrians and as a safety measure to prevent confusfon all vehicles and street cars shoujd observe all boule- vard stop signs and traffic control sig- nals, whether automatic or not. The statement of Mr. Rayner also favored some form of protection for safety zones other than white lines only. The Capital Traction Co. raised ob- Jection to the opinion of Corporation Counsel Stephens that the car com- panies should pay the cost of establish- ing safety zones for street car pas’ sengers. George E. Hamilton, president of that company, said he could find no law placing the cost of such work on the company, and that he desired to state frankly that if the commission orders the companies to pay for such safety zones the courts will be asked to de- cide whether the companies should pay the bi'l The seven intersections on which the traffic director and street raflway com- panies are unable to agree as to whether street cars should stop are: Rhode 1Island avenue at Seventh, New Jersey avenue, Florida avenue, Eleventh and Ninth streets; New York avenue at Seventh street, and Massa- chusetts avenue at Ninth street. X Director Eldridge stated at the hear- ing that it was unlikely that the speed Iimit would be increased on the por- tion of boulevards lying within the old city limits, south of Florida avenue. Later on, he said, an increased speed limit may be permitted on the boule- vards outside of the old city limits. ‘When one speaker referred to the faflure of many motorists to observe stop signs, Mr. Eldridge declared this was due to an uncertainty which has arisen in the minds of many motorists over the question bf the present status of the boulevards. Mr. Eldridge said that many people believe that if street cars do not stop at boulevards that they do not have to stop. WEDNESDAY, SEP! EMBER 16, 1925. POOR ASPHALT NOW BEING USED ON MOST STREETS IN CAPITAL Paving Administration Is Product—Guaranteed Few Firms Get Contracts for Work. BY WILL P. KENNEDY. (This is the third of a serics of articles on the condition of Wash- ington’s streets. The fourth will ap- pear tomorrow). With many of our most-used streets ‘“‘outlawed” by old age, as shown In thhe first article in this series, and with even worse deterioration in- evitable, as shown in the second article In this series, printed yester- day, it is very pertinent to inquirs *“Are our street funds wisely spent?” In all fairness it should be said that those in direct charge of our street work are recognized by their profession as among the best road- buflders in the country. Lieut. Col. J. Franklin Bell, Engineer Commis sioner, in executive charge, says this. C. B. Hunt, the efigineer of hig! ways, has been on the job 35 vears here and his assistant, J. W. Dare, for 43 years. The roads bullt and maintained under their administra- tion have outlived the normal life of syeh streets as determined by the engineering and especially the high- way engineering profession. This is F. 8. Besson, for- ¢ Assistant Engineer Commission- er, who is author of a new manual on “City Pavements” and so may be considered qualified by his experience here and by his general knowledge of the subject to speak with some authority. Critles Complain, But we have the administrative judgment of these men questioned by critics, who complain that (1) con- tractors are now compelled to guarantee the street work they do for only one year instead of for five vears as they used to; (2) that natural lake asphalt, which formerly was used exclusively, is now being re- placed by an inferlor and cheaper ofl asphalt; (3) that only one or two con- tractors can get jobs here and our entire street program is held up by the size of the organization they set to work, and (4) that contractors are allowed to dump into the repair work here almost any kind of Inferior material Regarding the guarantee provision complaint, the District authorities explain, and otbers with experience in contract work indorse their argu- ment, that a guarantee provision means greatly increased cost. They y that the experiencg of many vears has shown that the cost of re- pairs to asphalt pavement during the first five vears of its life is negli gible. This is confirmed by a.long. time survey, graphically illustrated in the July 23 number of the Engi- neering Record. Anvhow, that is not a question of administrative judgment, for it was Congress, by law, that directed the change from a five-year to a one- vear guarantee period. This change in law was made in the District ap- propriation bill for the fiscal year 1917 and was carefully considered by leaders in Congress who had exten- sive experfence in such matters— men like Representative Martin B. | Madden of Illinois, now chairman of the House appropriations committee, who, as a contractor, lald a very large part of the streets in Chicago. Guarantee Dropped. Congress had previously required the retention of 10 per cent of the cost of the work for the guarantee period. This, of course meant heavy financial burden to the con- tracto If the street work came to §750,000 a vear, it meant that § 000 would be held idle for five. year: and the contractor after doing a goo job iuat hire his finances somewhere else to keep on doing business. contractors made the District pay, and this fncreased cost, although hidden, reflected In the total cost of our streets. Then, finally the individu property owners paid, because unde: the Borland amendment one-half the cost was assessed against them. The question came up to Congress whether it was worth while paying this duty when the best judgment of the profession was that the streets would show little deterioration during the first five vears, and leng years of experience had demonstrated the fact. term is a poor bargain. So the custom was changed by act of Congress and met with absolute con- currence from the District officials. It s not only to street work but to school buildings and all such construction work, and meant annually a_holding up of very large sums from the caw tractors with a corresponding increase | in cost of the structure to the Dis- trict taxpayers. Bond Now Required. The new law reduces the guarantee period to one vear, and does away with the retention of any cash. It merely requires the contractor to give a bond, which costs him only a trivial amount in comparison, because there really is no risk. Here is another thought on this subject: Thers is a fundamental dif- ference in financing construction and maintenance. The District government pays for the maintenance of the streets, but construction of mnew streets and resurfacing, which is the subject of these contracts, is assessed against abutting property -owners. There is conflict in putting the main- nance cost (which 1s payable by the istrict) into the construction cost (which is payable by abutting property owner). Another strong argument against the flve-year guarantee requirement is this: It practically eliminates out- of-town competition for contracts. We want to .invite out-of-town contracts and encourage contractors in other cities to put. in blds They would be potential in holding down the figures of local bidders. But if the out-of- town man, after doing a good job, under proper inspection, is forced to wait for a large percentage of his money and be lable to be called back repeatedly during a flye-vear period to make minor patch-work repairs, he just will not enter into competition against the local contractors. Varieties of Asphalt. Now we come to the second criticism that a cheaper ofl asphalt is,being belfef that the meeting was sympto- matic of a general nove of certain big American banking houses to discuss ways and means of extending credits to Itallan industrial - enterprises so soon as the auspicious time arrives. It is emphasized, however, by those in a position to know that no Ameri- can financial enterprises of this sort will be sponsored or even encouraged by the Government until the debt question is -definitely settled. . Rumania to Meet Debts. 2 By the Associated Press. BUCHAREST, Rumania, September 18.—Premier Bratiano, who has just returned from Geneva, announces that Rumania, before sendin, sion to Washington, wizll get in touch with other states to which she owes money—Great Britain, France and Italy. He hopes for an important re- duction in the country’'s principal debt to France and Great Britain, and says he expects that payment to the United States will be made easy be- cause of the small amount of the debt—8$45,000,000. . He also said Rumania would put in her n&t’\ln budh.:‘ the sums n:.cc; sary make debt payment her allies.. her debt mis-,| used instead of natural lake asphalt. Our street builders in the National Capital have been laying lake asphalt since 1878; they have been laying oll asphalt since 1914. All our pavements are good up to 20 -vears and as a rule are not resurfaced until they are 27 to 30 vears old.- So it stands to reason that the engineers have had practical demonstration and know from long years of experience how long lake- asphalt pavement can be counted upon to last. They do not know the endurance of ofl asphalt for the simple reason that they have not been using it long enough. Lake asphalt, it should be under- stood, 1s a natural product, with the Dbest known sources of supply on Trinidad Island and the Bermudas de- posit in Venezuela. The ol asphalt ista byproduct of the process of refining to get gasoline and other olls from the crude ofl as it comes from the wells. The United States Bureau of Stand- ards, Uncle Sam’s great university for testing the strength, purity and en- durance of anything, gives scant help in deciding the relative merits of lake asphalt and ofl asphalt. The spe- clalists at the Bureau of Standards say they have made absolut lests to . -determine the a| So the | Iy was decided that the long-| sdlranteo ould be noted that this applied | Criticized for Using Oil Only One Year—Just longevity and endurance of these two kinds of -surfacing material. They refer all inquiries to the Bureau of Public Roads of the Department of Agriculture. Moot Question. Engineers in charge of the Bureau of Public Roads decline to express an official opinion as to the relative wearing qualities of lake and oil asphalt, pointing out that it is a moot question in the profession, some of the best engineers contending that the tmported lake product is superior, while others, equally recognized for their ability, say there is little, if any, difference between performance rec- ords. They all face the same fact that confronts the District of Colum bia highway engineers—oll asphalt has not been in use as long as lake asphalt, and so time alone can judge between them The real test as to which is hetter or whether each is equally good is the ultimate useful life of the street be- fore it has to be resurfaced. You have to pay more for natural lake asphait because it is imported from Trinidad or Venezuela, with long haulage charges. It is because the ofl asphalt is o much cheaper that the District highway engineers are having it used on our streets here. By using the cheaper product, which may or may not be just as good,| they can get a great deal more patch- ing and resurfacing done with avall- able funds just when there is far more of this work ahead of them than ;hl’_v can possibly get appropriations or. Lake asphalt comes to about $30 a ton and oil asphalt $15, $18 or $18 a ton. The cost of laying is the same. The municipal authorities take all bids with alternative figures for lake or any ofl asphalt that will meet the specifications. A ton of asphalt will spread about 80 square yards of street surface. They find the differential range is from 8 to 20 cents per square yard. Then they select what they consider the most advantageous, based on this differentlal. Saving in Oil Asphalt. Usually they save 10 to 15 cents per square yard by using the oil instead f lake asphalt. With an asphalt ardage of 250,000 for the current vear, it is simple multiplication to see that'a saving of $25.000 to $37,000 can be effected through use of oil asphalt rather than lake asphalt. With that money they can resurface 10,000 to 15,000 additional square yards of | streets where such rebuilding 18 urgently needed. The situation is such that while there is zeal not to endanger the wearing quality of a street, vet the administrative author- ities must lean toward economy as an additional reason for using ofl asphalt. Tt must not be understood that those in charge of our street resurfac- ing have ruthlessly stopped using lake asphalt. In fact, last year one of the big resurfacing jobs was for 83,043 square yards of lake asphalt laid on| 17 streets over old macadam and granite block roadway: This work was done by the Cranford Co. It was | thought that the extra cost for the| lake asphalt was justified by the very peculiar need for strength and endur- ance in that blanket. It should be taken into considera tion, also, that the original ofl as-| phalt offered on the market, some of | which was used on the earllest streets thus treated In the Capitol, | | was of rather poor quality. It was | | admittedly not produced as a primary { product of distillation, but was an { out-and-out by-product. The primary | object of the distillation was gasoline | dnd other lighter distillates that come over in the process.of refining the | crude oil from the wells. Later on it was_disclosed that there was a big market in the United States for a do- | mestic source of supply of specially | prepared asphalt for road surfacing. The refining processes were improved S0 that a far better residual asphalt resulted. The petroleum division of | the United States Bureau of Mines | says that very important changes | ve been made in the refining proc- | esses during the last few vears with | the direct purpose of improving the | road-wear qualities of oll asphalt. The behavior of the very first | streets here on which ofl asphalt was | used should not, therefore, be taken | as fllustrative of the performance of the ofl asphalt now being used—it should be discounted as admittedly in- ferfor. Some advocates of ofl asphalt contend that it should prove superior | to lake asphalt because it is produced | { with primary regard and special scientific study to build up the prop- erties needed in road construction The streets in the National Capital which should be taken as typical of what oil asphalt streets ought to be are not more than 10 years old, so they cannot be compared outright against the lake asphalt streets that are 20 to 40 vears in use. So the question is—and it 1s an open one among those who should be best informed on the subject—"“Which is the better buy—Ilake or ofl asphalt? Is 1t cheapef to spend 10 or 15 cents more per square vard for the lake asphalt surfacing? Which will cost more for repairs—a continuing cost as against the initial cost? As matters stand today the main- tenance cost for Washington streets is much smaller than in any of the large cities of the country, with the single exception of Baltimore, whera hardly any of the pavements are more than 10 years old. This was shown in a recent survey at the request of Capt. R. D. Stephens of the Budget Bureau. Most of the larger cities of the coun- try were paying five and six times as much for street maintenance as Wash- ington. Lake Asphalt Best. But after all these argyments, the contractors, superintendents, foremen and those who daily lay the asphaltic cement are quite generally of the opin- ion that eventually lake asphalt will prove superior to ofl asphaits in the incontrovertible test of time. The District engineer of highways absolutely refuses to take sides in this bitter controversy. Yet during the last 10 or 12 years that the oil asphalts {have been on the market the District street authorities have used much more oil asphalt than lake asphalt (only about 15 or 20 per cent of the whole being natural lake asphalt) sim- Dly because it has been cheaper, and ‘with more streets to surface than they could possibly cover with the appro- priation they had to stretch they got over the largest possiple yardage. Then there is the third criticism— that only one or two contractors get the jobs here and our entire street program is held up by the size of the gang they put to work. With thought particularly of asphalt street construc- tion, which, we must remember, 1s IRECORD TAX CUT CHANCES BRIGHTER Figures Issued by Treasury Show Slash Is Practical Proposition. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. Tivery time the Treasury issues a set of statlstics on the income tax payments of the fiscal vear ending last June there is more and more evi dence that tax reduction in greater degree than ever before not only mathematically possible, but is & p: tical proposition. When the last cut in taxes was made the experts figured on a total loss in revenue of around $350,000,000 when the new rates were put into ef- fect. The total loss n have been around $21 experts were not theory of how much reven rate would bring in, basing on incomes of the previo they could by no means calcul increase in incomes due to bet ness conditions as well portunity of the invest man to expand his enterprise lower tax rates More Optimism Likely. Making up an est income can be past figu sonable m ditions. doubt Cor optimistic is_the Treasury to Figures speak louder and the policy of the permitting the facts to leak o gradually as the returns are tab: lated and analyzed is designed show members of Congress what the probable limits of a tax reductior bill can be. The fact that incomes dropped onl $80,000,000 over the pre 18 regarded as the most thing about the stz by Commissioner Blair Revanue Bureau. The due to decreased rates miscellaneous taxes. this is the clgss in the greatest 7 shanges. Bu: Federal tax when selling_price are most a everything repealed wh sumer has to pay. Two Views Held. While the consur feels this directly, the total amount of the is so widely distributed that in Cor gress there are two schools of thought—those who think indirect taxation i8 a just and equitable bur den and those who think the i taxes affect many more mil people than thos income t toward the repeal of and a big cut in this expected in the next On the a a large exten Ir which indirect ped nam; 000,000, ured that the loss w not three times as if the iness d have been greater t considered most 1t individ their prody Cut Under Treasury F It begins to look as if t} will not be this time Treasury’s recommen higher rate, but ury's recommen members of Congress i r are going to_consider is a p duction. And some members ting below the Treasury's proposals already. Outside of the tax proposal the latest fizures revealed will tend to develop a sentiment for greater reduction on smaller incomes and for further repe: taxes. The surtax and i problem will have to bear compromises to keep a of Senators and Represent voting for cuts that will by the Treasury as altogther too (Copyright. 1925.) AUTO INJURES WOMAN. Mrs. Fannie Furr, 73, in Hospital for Treatment. While walking east at the_inters street Mrs. Fannie of 207 Third street s knocked down and seriou an automobile operated by Howard Scott of 1223 Hope avenue southeast Mrs. Furr was taken to Providence Hospital in Seott’s machine and treat ed by Dr. Edwin S. Woodyard for juries to the head and ri X-ray photograph is be today to learn the extent of injuries. She is suffering acutely shock, it was said at the hospital Scott was placed under arrest at the fifth precinct pending the outcome of Mrs. Furr's injuries. tion and are cut- rom plants, they all bid on practically plece of road work on which bids are asked, and they all bid low as compared with contracts fn other cities. The contracts they get are for new pavement or resurf where they both furnish the asphalt and other material up to a required standard, and do the work of laving it The contracta run to about three-quar- ters of a million dollars for asphalt work this year. One job of $100,000 has just been finished around Eastern High School. There is anothe: 000 job to widen E street, the same type as Thirteenth street. It is recognized as good econ and good administration by the Dis- trict officials to have all of these con tractors working at once when the: meet requpirements and when suffi- clent funds are available. The patch work, when cracks and holes appear in the streets, is done by the municipal plant, which last yea turned out 206,060 cubic feet of ma terial. When it is found that the asphaltic material required to fill th holes is greater than the capacity the municipal plant the highv neer’s office gets bids from local con tractors for the excess delivered at the contractor’s plant and of the same process as that which comes from the municipal plant. That hurries the re- omy about half ‘of the total, District en- gineers feels that there was never bet- ter competition nor larger organiza- tions at work, nor did the city ever get better prices. There are three principal local con- tractors, all of whom get a part of the street work. The Cranford Co. got the big lake asphalt job last year, which was practically all the asphalt resurfacing done. The year bafore this same company got the big cement road job. Corson & Gruman have just finished a sizable job, and there is no money available for more work for them, but as soon as some of the gaso- line tax funds come in this concern may be put to work again. McGuire & Rou': are now engaged on resurfacing worl - All of these concerns have local pair work and happens rather con- stantly in the Spring intensive-repair period. The charge that the contractors are allowed to dump into repair work any kind of material seems to be abso- lutely unfounded in fact. Tests, chemical and physical, are made of all materials used in street and road improvements. Last year there wera 971 tests of asphaltic ma- terials, 115 of sand, 142 of gravel and 9,360 of cements (a very considerable quantity of which went into build- ings and sewer construction). Sam- ples of asphalt tested represent 1,625 tons, of which 961 tons wers used by the contractors for laying roadways and 664 tons used at the municipal asphalt plant in producing patching material.